Popular reviews

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  Review by pirateneckbeard ★★★★ 8

  I was all on board for this film noir that packs a fair bit of flair and dark turns but also has these fun musical dance numbers constantly peering up that one could say it has Bollywood elements though the songs are always realized as bar dance routines that sometimes infer emotions that are ongoing in the story.
  There is a lot of reasons to check this out from it's stylized unique setting to the solid cinematography a script that moves and is audacious that had me shocked that it came out at this time. I loved Rodolfo Acosta(Rodolfo) as this maniacal bad guy with no morals but 100% you have to see this film for the talent and beauty…

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★★★ 16

  Ho. Ly. Shit. What a goddamn movie this is! Shot with noirish brilliance by the legendary Gabriel Figueroa, Victims of Sin is 300 pounds of brutality and emotion packed into a magnificent 90-minute bag, all built around a spectacular performance by Ninón Sevilla.

  Sevilla plays Violeta, a woman who refuses to be beaten down either by her life or the men in it, fighting — physically, when necessary — for survival with a riveting ferocity. She is astonishing character, and Sevilla embodies her with complete abandon, embracing every emotion with absolute commitment, and infusing her dances with an athleticism and knowing sensuality that make it impossible to take your eyes off her.

  The first time Violeta performs at La Maquina…

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  Review by Dr. Ethan Lyon ★★★★½ 5

  1st Emilio Fernández

  An energetic, dynamic reminder of how true family isn't born, it's made. Our heroine chooses to raise the child of two parents who couldn't care less, putting her happiness (found in the incredible mambo dancing she performs each night) to one side to pick up someone's literal trash. Every woman she meets in the process is part of her family, from spitfire singer Rita to the women who tear the feckless Rodolfo from Violeta as he beats her senseless. Santiago marries her and gives her enough money to send the boy to a good school, with presents and birthday cake aplenty; he even calls him "Dad". It is through this support, and her incredible core of inner…

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  Review by Ziglet_mir ★★★★½ 5

  Victims of Sin or Victimas del Pecado is the kind of gritty, at-times-fun, melodramatic wallop to the senses I live for. Part of the niche genre where Mexican filmmaking adapted and absorbed the film noir tendencies, this film presents nearly ten different musical numbers interspersed between a swift but endearing gangster plot line that revolves around the existence of a baby. The one swaddled, whining soul disturbs the equilibrium of the Changó nightclub where the desperate mother and ruthless, evil father abandon the child in order to maintain a reputation that will sustain them both. Yet, a Rumba dancer with a heart of gold saves the child to raise as her own--the only individual willing to take on her liveliness and the additional…

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  Review by Criterion

  A treasure of Mexico’s cinematic golden age, this deliriously plotted blend of gritty crime film, heart-tugging maternal melodrama, and mambo musical is a dazzling showcase for iconic star Ninón Sevilla. She brings fierce charisma and fiery strength to her role as a rumbera—a female nightclub dancer—who gives up everything to raise an abandoned boy, whom she must protect from his ruthless gangster father. Directed at a dizzying pace by filmmaking titan Emilio Fernández, and shot in stylish chiaroscuro by renowned cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa amid smoky dance halls and atmospherically seedy underworld haunts, Victims of Sin is a ferociously entertaining female-powered noir pulsing with the intoxicating rhythms of some of Latin America’s most legendary musical stars.

  Our edition arrives on June 18, 2024. To learn more or pre-order, visit Criterion.com.

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  Review by darbs ᥫ᭡ ★★★★★

  Criterion finds #4

  A movie that teaches you about life, a celebration of culture.
  The movie itself is painfully relatable- the characters dealing with dire loneliness, them finding a way of escapism through dancing. There were also some very touching scenes. You know a movie is good when it makes you shed even a single tear.

  A melodrama worth seeing.

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★★★ 14

  "Why did fate make you a sinner if you don't know how to sell your heart?"

  Mini-Collab w/ Rock
  Noirvember #19
  Women Film Editors #343: Gloria Schoemann

  For the women and men in Emilio Fernández's Victims of Sin, life is based on a series of established rhythms. Gangsters will run their nightclubs and stables of sex workers exactly as they want, they will demand that women follow all of their orders; women will dance and sing when they're expected to, do what men tell them for as long as the men will deign to keep them around (even by explaining the "right" way to walk to a streetwalker), no matter the extent of verbal and physical abuse. Women are valuable…

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  Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★★

  "Victims of Sin" is a 1951 drama noir directed by Emilio Fernández. As Fernandez himself was a bit of an acting staple in many films (most probably remember him for his inclusion in some Sam Peckinpah features), he also was foremost involved in the Mexican film movement during its golden age of cinema. One such title that he directed and is a front runner within that era is the presented "Victims of Sin" or "Víctimas del Pecado". A very tight knit film that certainly doesn't overstay it's welcome, "Victims of Sin" seems to be such a feature that especially makes the best use of every moment it is given on screen. It really an everlasting blend of theme which is…

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  Review by Karl ★★★★½ 9

  Where has this film been all my life! I blind bought it during the recent Criterion- Barnes & Noble sale. It's like finding a gem! Cuban born Mexican actress Ninón Sevilla stars as Violeta, a dancer forced to walk the streets performing the oldest profession. Sevilla really knocked my socks off. I was immediately transfixed by her beauty and presence. She's both tough as nails and heartbreakingly vulnerable. What a star!

  I was no less impressed with director Emilio Fernández. He packs a lot in just 84 minutes. The chiaroscuro cinematography is stunning. Most of the film takes place at night. The contrasting of light and the dark is so beautiful. It'd be a shame to watch this as a bootleg.…

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  Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★★ 7

  ***The ElCochran90 Discord Server's Watch Party Redeem #105***
  **Recommended by Jaime Rebanal.**
  *Find full updated list here*.

  Cuban native actress Ninón Sevilla shines in the darkest corners and cabarets of potentially Mexico’s best film-noir of the 50s, where Emilio Fernández makes an unimaginable concoction of said genre with neorealism. The final product is a unique product of stylized, yet grim realism, and a unique anti-femme fatale, if I am even allowed to come up with a term and baptize it at the same time, with splashes of exotic rhythms, shadows, violence, gunfire and the never-ending struggle of the working class justifying the ends before the means, and falling victims to the claws of sin... many of them knowingly! Remember Mexican…

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  Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★★ 1

  Watching this in the theater was a good experience. It was pretty full for a Monday night (and they're showing it for the whole week at least!). The audience laughed at the women catfighting, adored the melodrama, and clapped furiously at the end.

  The relationship between the mother and son was precious. It really should have been shown Mother's Day week, but that is okay.

  Vegan alert:
  -Milk required for the baby
  -Song about clams that also references a horse-drawn cart
  -Baby in a trash can

  This is the 94th film I saw through the 2nd incarnation of MoviePass.

  P.S. Master cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa spoiled us.

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  Review by kmarus ★★★★

  I could watch Ninón Sevilla do the rumba all day.